Insights
Our approach draws on proven models and the thinking of leading authors on teams, culture and leadership. These are the books we return to, and the ones we recommend to the leaders we work with.
The models we facilitate
Lencioni argues that organizational health is the single greatest advantage a company can have, and the most overlooked. A healthy organization has minimal politics and confusion, high morale and low turnover. He sets out four disciplines: build a cohesive leadership team, create clarity, over-communicate that clarity, and reinforce it.
The foundation of our work. When the leadership team is aligned, the rest of the organization can follow.
Told as a leadership fable, the book follows a new CEO rebuilding a divided executive team. It names five dysfunctions that build on each other: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results.
The model behind our 5 Behaviors® workshop: trust comes first, and results follow.
Every piece of work moves through six stages: Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement and Tenacity. Each person has two that give them energy, two they can do, and two that drain them. Knowing the mix in a team explains a lot of frustration and burnout.
The basis of our Working Genius workshop, which matches people to the work that energizes them.
Another fable, this time about hiring and developing people. The ideal team player has three virtues working together: humble, hungry and people smart. Missing any one of them makes teamwork harder.
The model we use when helping leaders hire, assess and develop the right people.
Further reading
Based on years of research, Collins studies companies that made the jump from good results to great ones and kept them. The common thread is discipline: humble, determined leaders, getting the right people on the bus before deciding where to go, facing hard facts honestly, and building momentum step by step.
A reminder that lasting performance starts with the right people in the right seats.
Sinek shows that the leaders and organizations that inspire people start by explaining why they do what they do, before how or what. A clear purpose builds trust and loyalty, inside and outside the organization.
Purpose is what turns a group of individuals into one team moving in the same direction.
Coyle visits some of the most successful groups in the world, from sports teams to special forces, and finds three skills behind their chemistry: building safety, sharing vulnerability and establishing purpose.
It shows in practice how trust and belonging are built, one interaction at a time.
The classic work on how culture forms, works and changes. Schein describes culture in three layers: what you can see, the values people say they hold, and the deeper assumptions nobody questions. He shows how leaders create, embed and reshape it.
It helps us look beneath the surface, at the assumptions that really drive how a team behaves.
A practical guide to the four skills of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management, with everyday strategies to strengthen each one.
It backs one of our core beliefs: interpersonal skills lead to high-performing organizations.
Covey sets out a principle-based path from dependence to independence to interdependence, through habits such as beginning with the end in mind and seeking first to understand, then to be understood.
Effective teams start with effective people who listen, take ownership and work toward shared goals.
A study of visionary companies that outperformed their rivals for decades. What set them apart was a core ideology, their values and purpose, held constant while everything else was free to change.
Purpose and culture are what last, long after any single strategy or product.
Coyle argues that greatness is grown, not born. Skill develops through deep, deliberate practice, a spark of motivation and great coaching.
With the right environment and the right support, people can grow far beyond what they or others expect.
A long-standing classic on how attitude and belief shape what we achieve, with practical techniques for building confidence, calm and optimism.
Mindset shapes how people show up at work, for themselves and for their colleagues.